Childebert I (
c.496 – 13 December 558) was the
FrankishThe Franks or Frankish people were a West Germanic tribal confederation first attested in the 3rd century as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul...
king of Paris, a Merovingian dynast, one of the four sons of
Clovis IClovis was the first King of the Franks to unite all the Frankish tribes under one king. He also introduced Christianity. He was the son of Childeric I and Basina. At age 16, he succeeded his father, in the year 481...
who shared the kingdom of the Franks upon their father's death in 511. He was one of the sons of Saint Clotilda, born at
ReimsThe city of Rheims , in English and in French, lies in the Champagne-Ardenne region in north-eastern France 129 km east-northeast of Paris....
.
In the partition of the realm, he received as his share the town of
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, the country to the north as far as the river
SommeThe Somme is a department of France, located in the north of the country and named after the Somme river. It is part of the Picardie region of France....
, to the west as far as the
English ChannelThe English Channel is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest, to only in the Strait of Dover...
, and the
ArmoricaArmorica or Aremorica is the name given in ancient times to the part of Gaul that includes the Brittany peninsula and the territory between the Seine and Loire rivers, extending inland to an indeterminate point and down the Atlantic coast...
n peninsula (modern
BrittanyBrittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Brittany was previously a kingdom and then as a duchy it was a fief of the Kingdom of France. It was at one time called Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
). His brothers ruled in different lands:
Theuderic ITheuderic I was the Merovingian king of Metz, Rheims, or Austrasia—as it is variously called—from 511 to 533 or 534....
in
MetzMetz is a city in the northeast of France, capital of the Lorraine region and prefecture of the Moselle department. It is located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers....
,
ChlodomerChlodomer, also spelled Clodomir or Clodomer was the second of the four sons of Clovis I, King of the Franks. On the death of his father, in 511, he divided the kingdom of the Franks with his three brothers: Theuderic I, Childebert I, and Clotaire I...
in
OrléansOrléans is a commune in north-central France, about southwest of Paris. It is the capital of the Loiret department and of the Centre region.The commune is located on the Loire River where the river curves south towards the Massif Central....
, and
Clotaire IChlothar I , called the Old , King of the Franks, was one of the four sons of Clovis. He was born about 497 in Soissons ....
in
SoissonsSoissons is a commune in the Aisne department in Picardie in northern France, located on the Aisne River, about 100 kilometres northeast of Paris...
.
In 523, Childebert participated in a war against
Godomar of BurgundyGodomar , son of king Gundobad, was king of Burgundy. He ruled Burgundy after his elder brother's death in 524 until 534.Both he and his brother Sigismund of Burgundy were defeated in battle by Clovis' sons. Godomar fled and Sigismund was taken prisoner by Chlodomer, King of Orleans. Godomar then...
. Chlodomer died in the
Battle of VézeronceThe Battle of Vézeronce took place on June 25, 524 close to Vézeronce-Curtin in Isère. It was part of the Burgundian War initiated by the four successors of the Frankish king Clovis I: Childebert I, Chlodomir, Clotaire I, and Theuderic I....
. In 524, after the murder of Chlodomer's children, Childebert annexed the cities of
ChartresChartres is a town and commune and capital of the Eure-et-Loir department in north-central France It is located southwest of Paris in central France.-Geography:...
and
OrléansOrléans is a commune in north-central France, about southwest of Paris. It is the capital of the Loiret department and of the Centre region.The commune is located on the Loire River where the river curves south towards the Massif Central....
.
He took part in later various expeditions against the kingdom of
BurgundyThe Burgundians were an East Germanic tribe which may have emigrated from mainland Scandinavia to the island of Bornholm, whose old form in Old Norse still was Burgundarholmr , and from there to mainland Europe. In Þorsteins saga Víkingssonar, Veseti settled in an island or holm, which was called...
. He besieged
AutunAutun is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in Burgundy in eastern France.The history of Autun dates back to Roman times.Autun marks the easternmost extent of the Umayyad campaign in Europe.-History:...
in 532 and, in 534, received as his share of the spoils of that kingdom the towns of
MâconMâcon is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne in eastern France.It is the capital of the department, although Chalon-sur-Saône is larger....
,
GenevaGeneva, is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie...
, and
Lyon||-||}Lyon , often Anglicized as Lyons, is a city in east-central France in the region Rhône-Alpes, situated between Paris and Marseille. Its name is pronounced in French and Arpitan, and or in English...
. When
WitigesWitiges or Vitiges was King of the Ostrogoths in Italy from 536 to 540.He succeeded to the throne of Italy in the early stages of the Gothic War, as Belisarius had quickly captured Sicily the previous year and was currently in southern Italy at the head of the forces of Justinian I, the Eastern...
, the king of the Ostrogoths, ceded
ProvenceProvence is a region of southeastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
to the Franks in 535, the possession of
ArlesArles is a city in the south of France, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, of which it is a subprefecture, in the former province of Provence.-Geography:...
and Marseilles was guaranteed to Childebert by his brothers. The annexation of that province was completed, with Clotaire's help, in the winter of 536–537.
In 531, he received pleas from his sister
ChrotildaClotilde or Chrodechildis was the daughter of King Clovis I of the Franks and Queen Clotilde.In 511 she was married to the Visigothic King Amalaric. Clotilde was a Catholic, while Amalaric and his fellow-Visigoths were Arians...
, wife of King
AmalaricAmalaric, or in Spanish and Portuguese, Amalarico, was a son of king Alaric II and of Theodegotho, daughter of Theodoric the Great and his first wife. Amalaric was himself king of the Visigoths from 526 till he was assassinated in 531....
of the Visigoths. The
ArianArianism is the theological teaching of Arius , a Christian priest, who was first ruled a heretic at the First Council of Nicea of 325, later exonerated in 335 at the First Synod of Tyre, and then pronounced a heretic again after his death at the First Council of Constantinople of 381...
king of
HispaniaHispania was the name given by the Romans to the whole of the Iberian Peninsula . When Rome was a republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior...
, Chrotilda claimed, was grossly mistreating her, a Catholic. Childebert went down with an army and defeated the Gothic king. Amalaric retreated to Barcelona, where he was assassinated. Chrotilda died on her return journey to Paris of unknown causes.
Childebert made other expeditions against the Visigoths. In 542, he took possession of
PamplonaPamplona is the capital city of Navarre, Spain and of the former kingdom of Navarre.The city is famous worldwide for the San Fermín festival, from July 7 to 14, in which the running of the bulls or encierro is one of the main attractions...
with the help of his brother Clotaire and besieged Zaragoza, but was forced to retreat. From this expedition he brought back to Paris a precious relic, the tunic of
Saint VincentSaint Vincent of Saragossa, also known as Vincent of Huesca or Vincent the Deacon, is the patron saint of Lisbon. His feast day is January 22 in the Roman Catholic Church, and November 11 in the Eastern Orthodox Churches...
, in honour of which he built at the gates of Paris the famous monastery of St Vincent, known later as St-Germain-des-Prés.
He died without issue on 13 December 558, and was buried in the abbey he had founded, where his tomb has been discovered. He left no sons, only two daughters, Chrodoberge and Chrodesinde, by his wife Ultragotha. Childebert was an acquisitive monarch. He expanded his domains in more foreign wars than any of his brothers: fighting in Burgundy (more than once), Spain (more than once), Provence, and elsewhere in Gaul.
Gregory of ToursSaint Gregory of Tours was a Gallo-Roman historian and bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of Gaul. He was born Georgius Florentius, later adding the name Gregorius in honour of his maternal great-grandfather...
, a contemporary, speaking as a
NeustriaThe territory of Neustria or Neustrasia, meaning "new [western] land", originated in 511, made up of the regions from Aquitaine to the English Channel, approximating most of the north of present-day France, with Paris and Soissons as its main cities...
n, puts these words into Childebert's mouth:
Velim unquam Arvernam Lemanem quae tantae jocunditatis gratia refulgere dicitur, oculis cernere. Childbert was also one of the more religious of the sons of Clovis, cooperating with his brothers, rescuing his sister, and constructing the famous monastery of Saint Vincent to house his relics.
Sources
- Gregory of Tours
Saint Gregory of Tours was a Gallo-Roman historian and bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of Gaul. He was born Georgius Florentius, later adding the name Gregorius in honour of his maternal great-grandfather...
. The History of the Franks. 2 vol. trans. O. M. Dalton. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1967.
- Geary, Patrick J. Before France and Germany. Oxford University Press: 1988.